Eager to Share

As we’ve seen throughout this report, Christians who talk about their faith a lot are different in their behaviors and perceptions from those who don’t. Through analysis, it became clear to researchers that getting to know these eager conversationalists could be helpful for church and ministry leaders, who are called to equip Christians to live and proclaim the good news. What is happening with these sisters and brothers that makes them so eager to share? Who are the one in four Christians who talk about faith 10 or more times a year (27%)?

Demographically, it doesn’t appear that gender, ethnicity or age cohort makes a significant impact on faith-sharing frequency—and that’s worth noting, especially when it comes to age. The Christian community rightly worries about the church dropout problem among Millennials, so it’s great news that young adults who remain active in the faith are, statistically speaking, just as eager as older Christians to share: 24 percent are eager conversationalists, compared to 27 percent of older adults (a difference that is within the margin of error).

The demographic difference that appears to make a difference is having kids; being a parent correlates to more faith conversations. Three in 10 Christians who have children are eager conversationalists (29%), compared to one in five of those who don’t (21%). Most parents choose to raise their children in their own faith tradition, so it makes sense that they would talk more frequently about spiritual matters than those not engaged at home in passing on Christian faith to the next generation. In Barna’s recent research among Gen Z 13- to 18-year-olds, teens with parents who are engaged Christians— they make faith a priority on a variety of measures—are much more likely to themselves be engaged in faith. In other words, parents who are eager to talk with their kids about spiritual matters raise kids who are likewise eager. This signals the importance of faith-sharing from generation to generation. While we may often think of sharing faith as something that is done with strangers or with those who are non-Christians, some of the most significant and impactful conversations we can have are at home. Children who grow up regularly talking about faith and seeing their parents integrate faith into everyday life are much more likely to continue being actively engaged in their faith as they grow older.

Spiritual Practices &
Deep Commitment

Faith tradition, Christian practice and the priority people assign to their faith also make a difference. As you might expect, those who engage in various faith practices in their own life are also the ones who are most likely to talk about their faith with others. This makes sense: If you are regularly thinking about your faith, connecting it to your daily life and seeking God’s will in your activities, then spiritual matters are on your mind more often. In turn, such thoughts make their way into your conversations with others.

Nearly all eager conversationalists say they are “personally committed to Jesus Christ” (97% vs. 86% reluctant), and regular church attendance, Bible reading and prayer are common practices among this group. One-third of Christians who attend church at least once a month are eager conversationalists (36%), but only 13 percent of “unchurched” Christians—those who do not regularly attend—share their faith frequently. Looked at another way, 62 percent of those who are eager were in church last Sunday, compared to onethird of those who are reluctant (33%). Likewise, eager conversationalists are more likely than those who are reluctant to have read the Scriptures (64% vs. 41%) and spent time in prayer (98% vs. 86%) during the past week.

A strong priority on faith is another characteristic of an eager conversationalist. Eight out of 10 eager conversationalists strongly agree that “your religious faith is very important in your life today” (82%), yet just half of reluctant conversationalists strongly agree (48%). Relatedly, those who regularly attend church and say their faith is very important in their lives (Barna calls them “practicing Christians”) are more likely to be eager: 42 percent share often, compared to only 15 percent of non-practicing Christians. When it comes to Christian tradition, Protestants are more inclined than Catholics to share faith frequently: Half of practicing Protestants (50%) and three in 10 practicing Catholics (30%) qualify as eager.

Beliefs seem to be at least as influential as faith practice on how often Christians share their faith—perhaps even more influential than regular church attendance. Eager conversationalists are more likely than reluctant conversationalists to subscribe to orthodox Christian beliefs about God and the Bible. They are nearly twice as likely to strongly agree that “the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles that it teaches” (62% vs. 36% reluctant) and two-thirds strongly agree that “everyone needs to have their sins forgiven” (68% vs. 41%).

Perhaps not surprisingly, there appears to be a relationship between a Christian’s understanding of the afterlife and the frequency with which she talks about her faith. Based on answers to a question about what will happen to them after they die, researchers grouped believers into three “afterlife groups” to examine possible correlations. Just over half belong to the “orthodox” group, which agrees with the doctrinal statement, “When you die you will go to heaven because you have confessed your sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior” (53%). About one-quarter fall into the “moralist” group (22%); these Christians view heaven as something to be earned through maximum human effort. The “universalist” group is made up of only 5 percent of Christians, but their agreement with the statement “when you die you will go to heaven because God loves all people and will not let them perish” strongly correlates with fewer reported spiritual conversations.

Two-thirds of eager conversationalists have an orthodox understanding of life after death (64%), while only 49 percent of reluctant conversationalists adhere to the orthodox view. Just 10 percent of the universalist group have frequent conversations about faith.
What’s going on here? It’s likely there is greater evangelistic urgency associated with an orthodox view of what happens after death.

Personal Responsibility
& Confidence

When describing evangelism, one Christian wrote of her approach, “My ‘job’ is to allow the Holy Spirit to speak through me. My own testimony and a few words from Scripture are powerful. The Holy Spirit works on their heart.”

Another focused on his actions rather than his words: “All of my daily activities revolve around my response to the free gift of my salvation through Jesus. That is what drives my life every day.”
For many eager conversationalists, this drive is energized by personal experience: Six in 10 say they have made a big change in their life as a result of a conversation about faith (59%), nearly twice as many as those who share less frequently (34%). Perhaps consequently, three-quarters of eager conversationalists agree they

have a personal responsibility to share their faith, compared to half of reluctant conversationalists (77% vs. 49%)—and when it comes to the ways they approach spiritual conversations, many who often share have an “all of the above” style. From Facebook, to email, to in-person conversations, a majority of them reports using more than half of the available options, compared to only two methods selected by a majority of those who had fewer than 10 conversations last year. Christians eager to share their faith are more willing to use any of the approaches Barna examined. They seem to be more flexible and creative and appear more comfortable with faith-sharing all the way around. It’s likely they even customize their approach to different kinds of people. It’s also more likely that they are filtering all of their interactions through a lens of faith—whether that’s online or in person.

Confidence may have something to do with the disparity between these two groups. Two-thirds of eager conversationalists say they definitely “feel qualified to share my faith” (65%) but only 40 percent of reluctant conversationalists say so—the same percentage that says they maybe feel that way (vs. 31% eager). As we saw in chapter 1, eager Christians are also more likely to say they actively seek or create opportunities to share their faith (27% vs. 15%).

One of the clearest takeaways is a simple one: The more people think about faith, the more they talk about it. Eager conversationalists are actively engaged in their faith on a daily and weekly basis: They are reading the Bible, praying often, attending church regularly. Such activities undoubtedly produce fruit in their lives and center their activities and interactions around their faith. God is on their minds—and such thoughts spill out into their conversations, as well.

This should encourage church leaders! Discipling believers to engage with God more often through scripture, prayer and regular church attendance is the bread and butter of church. And such activities do, in fact, produce disciples who take their faith out into the world.

In the final section, we look more closely at the implications of this full report—and how to apply these findings in day-to-day life and ministry.

Of course, it’s also possible that some eager conversationalists generally have a more extroverted temperament or strongly held opinions than some who are reluctant. When Barna asked about a variety of topics other than faith, researchers found that eager conversationalists are more likely to have engaged in conversations about health (80% vs. 71% reluctant), politics (77% vs. 68%), parenting (69% vs. 55%) and LGBTQ issues (55% vs. 41%). Whatever the reason, frequent sharers seem to be more open overall and certainly more interested in turning ordinary encounters into spiritual conversations. They are people for whom spiritual conversations come naturally and often in the course of everyday life. This, coupled with their feeling of being qualified to share, leads them not to shy away from spiritual topics.

This is significant for ministry leaders: How can you equip laypeople to feel ready for these kinds of conversations? How can you help them understand the ways God is at work in everyday situations?

Similar to their any-and-all ethos when it comes to approach, eager conversationalists tend to use many means of communication to engage in conversations about faith (see the chart below). On a related question, one-quarter strongly agrees that “tech and digital interactions have changed how I share my faith” (28%), compared to just 15 percent of reluctant conversationalists. This also signals a willingness (and confidence) to adjust their sharing styles for the person and medium.

What can we take away from these commonalities and characteristics of eager conversationalists?

One of the clearest takeaways is a simple one: The more people think about faith, the more they talk about it. Eager conversationalists are actively engaged in their faith on a daily and weekly basis: They are reading the Bible, praying often, attending church regularly. Such activities undoubtedly produce fruit in their lives and center their activities and interactions around their faith. God is on their mind—and such thoughts spill out into their conversations, as well.

This should encourage church leaders! Discipling believers to engage with God more often through scripture, prayer and regular church attendance is the bread and butter of church. And such activities do, in fact, produce disciples who take their faith out into the world.

In the final section, we look more closely at the implications of this full report—and how to apply these findings in day-to-day life and ministry.